Goodread: The Places That Scare You by Pema Chodron
When I walked into Yellow Dog Bookshop earlier this semester, I had no idea what to expect. I was there to interview the owner, Joe Chevalier, for my first convergence assignment ever, armed with recording gear I barely knew how to use, a tripod as big as I was, and a pencil I held with shaky hands.
My anxiety that day was off the walls, and as I conducted the interview with Joe, it showed. I was so all over the place, in fact, that I forgot to actually RECORD the interview, having to call Joe again first thing in the morning and set up a do-over.
I walked into his shop that Thursday a nervous wreck. But I left with more than just a few soundbites. He'd scribbled a book title on a crumpled piece of paper, saying that it'd help me in more ways than one.
The following week, I picked it up.
"The Places That Scare You" by Pema Chodron explores the concept of life, particularly the things we fear, why we fear them, and how we can live brighter, more insightful lives in a fast-paced world. For this week's blog post, I decided to take a few minutes every day to take the book from its spot on my windsill and just read for the sake of reading.
"In meditation we discover our inherent restlessness," Chodron writes. "Sometimes we get up and leave. Sometimes we sit there but our bodies wiggle and squirm and our minds go far away. This can be so uncomfortable that we feel’s it’s impossible to stay. Yet this feeling can teach us not just about ourselves but what it is to be human…we really don’t want to stay with the nakedness of our present experience. It goes against the grain to stay present. These are the times when only gentleness and a sense of humor can give us the strength to settle down…so whenever we wander off, we gently encourage ourselves to 'stay' and settle down."
Anxiety, to a certain degree, is a normal part of life. However, it's when small doses grow into bigger ones, when mere inconveniences becomes debilitating, when you can't remember the last time you felt truly "calm"...that it becomes a problem.
I hope to spend a little bit of time every week to finish this book. Chodron mulls over the feelings of insecurity and restlessness that comes with anxiety and fear, offering clear, viable solutions. But perhaps the best part about it, for me, was that it came from a source.
It's little things like this that remind me what I'm here for.
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